Activists Want Democratic Party Convention to Move out of North Carolina After Amendment One Passage [View all]

[Better Believe It]

Activists Want DNC Convention to Move out of North Carolina After Amendment One Passage
By: David Dayen
May 9, 2012

As you know, North Carolina passed Amendment One, a constitutional amendment initiative that not only puts the existing ban on same-sex marriage in the state constitution, but will also ban civil unions and domestic partnerships and could actually make things difficult for heterosexual couples that co-habitate. Despite – or perhaps because of – confusion about the consequences of the measure, 61% of voters supported the amendment yesterday.

But there’s another wrinkle with this outcome. The 2012 DNC convention will take place in Charlotte, with President Obama set to accept the nomination at Bank of America Stadium, where the NFL’s Panthers play. And some activists are unhappy about the fact that Democrats will celebrate in Charlotte four months after the state took rights away from LGBT families.

For the record, President Obama formally opposed Amendment One. He didn’t campaign against it, as Bill Clinton did, but he did send the message that he rejected discrimination and the denial of rights and benefits to same-sex couples. After the vote, Obama’s campaign released a statement where he pronounced himself “disappointed in the passage of this amendment.”

The larger point here is that this controversy isn’t likely to go away. And the DNC convention, instead of a PR event for the President’s re-election, could be dominated by this conversation about gay rights, from the addition of a marriage equality plank to the platform to the protest against the convention site. There are already waves of criticism against the selection of Charlotte – North Carolina is a right-to-work state, there are no union hotels in Charlotte for attendees to stay at, it has a reputation as “Wall Street West” and is the home of Bank of America – and this just gets layered on.


Obama plans Convention speech at Bank of America Stadium

Read the full article at:

http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/05/09/activists-want-dnc-convention-to-move-out-of-north-carolina-after-amendment-one-passage/